Lewis Allen directs Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden and Nancy Gates in this noir thriller where the small town of Suddenly is overrun by secret service agents ahead of the President’s visit and three assassins take a family hostage so they can maintain the vantage point of their sniper rifle.

Really solid this (though some the minor characters acting is atrocious). Sinatra gets a really beefy part as the self-aggrandising psycho. This could easily be a play but it grips and stays surprisingly claustrophobic.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Desperate Hours (1955)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/